Feuillade, Louis

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FEUILLADE, Louis


Nationality: French. Born: Lunel, France, 19 February 1873. Education: the Institut de Brignac and at the Petit Séminaire, Carcassonne. Military Service: Served with French Army, 1891–95, and 1915. Family: Married Jeanne-Léontine Janjou, 1895 (daughter married to filmmaker Maurice Champreux). Career: Worked in publishing in Paris, 1898; founder of satirical journal La Tomate, 1903; hired as writer by Alice Guy at Gaumont Studios, 1905; replaced Guy as director of Gaumont Productions, 1907; began series of "cinéromans" (serials) with Judex, 1916; first president of the Societé des Auteurs de Films, 1917–18; moved, with Gaumont, to Nice, 1918. Died: In Nice, 26 February 1925.

Films as Director (Feuillade wrote and directed an estimated eight hundred films; this partial listing includes all series titles and known non-series titles):

1906

Le billet de banque; C'est Papa qui prend la purge; Les deux Gosses; La Porteuse de pain; Mireille (co-d); N'te promène donc pas toute nue

1907

Un accident d'auto; La course des belles-mères; Un facteur trop ferré; L'homme aimanté; La légende de la fileuse; Un paquet embarrassant; La sirène; Le thé chez la concierge; Vive le sabotage

1908

Les agents tels qu'on nous les présente; Une dame vraiment bien; La grève des apaches; Nettoyage par le vide; Une nuit agitée; Prométhé; Le récit du colonel; Le roman de Sœur Louise; Un tic

1909

L'aveugle de Jerusalem; La chatte métamorphosée en femme; La cigale et la fourmi; Le collier de la reine; Les filles du cantonnier; Les heures; Histoire de puce; Le huguenot; Judith et Holopherne; Fra Vincenti; La légende des phares; La mère du moine; La mort de Mozart; La mort; La possession de l'enfant; Le savetier et le financier; Le printemps; Vainqueur de la course pédestre;

1910

Benvenuto Cellini; Le Christ en croix; Esther; L'Exode; Le festin de Balthazar; La fille de Jephté; Mil huit cent quatorze; Mater dolorosa; Maudite soit la guerre; Le pater; Le roi de Thulé

1910/11

"Le Film Esthétique" series: (1910: Les sept péchés capitaux, La nativité; 1911: La vierge d'Argos)

1910/13

"Bébé" series (74 films, from 88 to 321 meters length) (series begins with Bébé fume in 1910; final title is Bébé en vacances in 1913)

1911

L'aventurière, dame de compagnie; Aux lions les chrétiens; Dans la vie; Les doigts qui voient; Fidélité romaine; Le fils de la sunamité; Le fils de Locuste; Les petites apprenties; Quand les feuilles tombent; Sans le joug; Le trafiquant

1911/13

"La vie telle qu'elle est" series: (1911: Les vipères, Le mariage de l'aînée, Le roi Lear au village, En grève, Le bas de laine [Le Trésor], La tare, Le poison, La souris blanche, Le trust [Les batailles de l'argent], Le chef-lieu de Canton, Le destin des mères, Tant que vous serez heureux; 1912: L'accident, Les braves gens, Le nain, Le pont sur l'Abime; 1913: S'affranchir)

1912

Amour d'automne; Androclès; L'anneau fatal; L'attrait du bouge; Au pays des lions; L'Aventurière; La cassette de l'emigrée; Le chateau de la peur; Les cloches de Paques; Le cœur et l'argent; La course aux millions; Dans la brousse; La demoiselle du notaire; La fille du margrave; La hantise; Haut les mains!; L'homme de proie; La maison des lions; Le maléfice; Le mort vivant; Les noces siciliennes; Le Noël de Francesca; Préméditation; La prison sur le gouffre; Le témoin; Le tourment; Tyrtée; La vertu de Lucette; La vie ou la mort; Les yeux qui meurent

1912/16

"Bout-de-Zan" series (53 films, from 79 to 425 meters length) [series begins with Bout-de-Zan revient du cirque (1912); final title is Bout-de-Zan et la torpille (1916)]

1912/13

"Le Détective Dervieux" series (1912: Le Proscrit, L'oubliette; 1913: Le guet-apens, L'écrin du rajah)

1913

L'agonie de Byzance; L'angoisse; Les audaces du cœur; Bonne année; Le bon propriétaire; Le browning; Leschasseurs de lions; La conversion d'Irma; Un drame aupays basque; L'effroi; Erreur tragique; La gardienne dufeu; Au gré des flots; L'intruse; La marche des rois; Lemariage de miss Nelly; Le ménestrel de la reine Anne; Lamort de Lucrèce; La petite danseuse; Le revenant; La roseblanche; Un scandale au village; Le secret du forçat; Lavengeance du sergent de ville; Les yeux ouverts

1913/14

"Fantômas" series: (1913: Fantômas, Juve contreFantômas, La mort qui tue; 1914: Fantômas contreFantômas, Le faux magistrat)

1913/16

"La vie drôle" series (35 films, of which 26 are preserved) [series begins with Les millions de la bonne (1913), and includes L'Illustre Machefer (1914), Le colonel Bontemps (1915), and Lagourdette, gentleman cambrioleur (1916)]

1914

Le calvaire; Le coffret de Tolède; Le diamant du Sénéchal; L'enfant de la roulotte; L'épreuve; Les fiancés de 1914; Lesfiancés de Séville; Le gendarme est sans culotte; La gitanella; L'hôtel de la gare; Les lettres; Manon de Montmartre; Laneuvaine; Paques rouges; La petite Andalouse; La rencontre; Severo Torelli

1915

L'angoisse au foyer; La barrière; Le blason; Celui qui reste; Le collier de perles; Le coup du fakir; La course a l'abîme; Deux Françaises; L'escapade de Filoche; L'expiation; Lefer a cheval; Fifi tambour; Le furoncle; Les noces d'argent; Le Noël du poilu; Le sosie; Union sacrée

1915/16

"Les vampires" series (1915: La tête coupée ; La bague qui tue ; Le cryptogramme rouge ; 1916: Le spectre; L'évasion du mort ; Les yeux qui fascinent ; Satanas ; Lemaître de la foudre; L'homme des poisons ; Les noces sanglantes )

1916

L'aventure des millions; C'est le printemps; Le double jeu; Les fiançailles d'Agénor; Les fourberies de Pingouin; Lemalheur qui passe; Un mariage de raison; Les mariés d'unjour; Notre pauvre cœur; Le poète et sa folle amante; Lapeine du talion; Le retour de Manivel; Si vous ne m'aimezpas; Judex (serial in a prologue and twelve episodes)

1917

L'autre; Le bandeau sur les yeux; Débrouille-toi; Déserteuse; La femme fatale; La fugue de Lily; Herr Doktor; Mon oncle; La nouvelle mission de Judex (serial in twelve episodes); Lepassé de Monique

1918

Aide-toi; Les petites marionnettes; Tih Minh (serial in twelve episodes); Vendémiaire

1919

Barrabas (serial in twelve episodes); L'engrenage; L'énigme (Le mot de l'); L'homme sans visage; Le nocturne

1920

Les deux Gamines (serial in twelve episodes)

1921

L'Orpheline (serial in twelve episodes); Parisette (serial in twelve episodes)

1921/22

"Belle humeur" series (1921: Gustave est médium, Marjolinou la fille manquée, Saturnin ou le bon allumeur, Séraphinou les jambes nues, Zidore ou les métamorphoses; 1922: Gaétan ou le commis audacieux, Lahire ou le valet decœur)

1922

Le fils du flibustier (serial in twelve episodes)

1923

Le gamin de Paris; La gosseline; L'orphelin de Paris (serial in six episodes); Vindicta (film released in five parts)

1924

La fille bien gardée; Lucette; Pierrot Pierrette; Le stigmate (serial in six episodes)


Other Films:

1905

Le coup de vent (Le chapeau) (sc)

1906

La course au potiron (sc)



Publications


By FEUILLADE: books—

Le Clos (play), with Etienne Arnaud, Paris, 1905.

Les Vampires, with George Meirs, Paris, 1916.

Judex, with Arthur Bernède, Paris, 1917 (and 1934).

La nouvelle Mission de Judex, with Arthur Bernède, Paris, 1919.

Tih Minh, with Georges Le Faure, Paris, 1919.

Barrabas, with Maurice Level, Paris, 1920.


By FEUILLADE: articles—

"Naundor, la genèse d'un crime historique," (under pseudonym P. Valergues), in Revue mondiale (Paris), 10 November 1904 through 25 October 1905.

Manifestos on the series "Le film esthétique" and "La vie telle qu'elle est," in L'Anthologie du Cinéma, edited by Marcel Lapierre, Paris, 1946.


On FEUILLADE: books—

Delluc, Louis, Cinéma et Compagnie, Paris, 1919.

Védrès, Nicole, Images du cinéma français, Paris, 1945.

Lacassin, Francis, Louis Feuillade, Paris, 1964.

Prédal, René, Le Cinéma muet à Nice, Aix-en-Provence, 1964.

Florey, Robert, La Lanterne magique, Lausanne, 1966.

Lacassin, Francis, Maître des lions et des vampires, Louis Feuillade, Paris, 1995.


On FEUILLADE: articles—

Beylie, Claude, "Louis Feuillade," in Ecrans de France (Paris), 15 May 1959.

Lacassin, F., and R. Bellour, "En effeuillant la Marguerite," in Cinéma (Paris), March–June 1961.

Florey, Robert, "Une Saison dans la cage à mouches avec Feuillade," in Cinéma (Paris), June 1962.

Fieschi, Jean-André, "Feuillade (l'homme aimanté)," in Cahiers duCinéma (Paris), November 1964.

Lacassin, Francis, "Louis Feuillade," in Sight and Sound (London), Winter 1964/65.

Lacassin, Francis, "Les lettres de Léon Gaumont à Louis Feuillade," in Cinéma (Paris), no. 95, 1965.

"Feuillade," in Anthologie du Cinéma, vol. 2, Paris, 1967.

Roud, Richard, "Maker of Melodrama," in Film Comment (New York), November/December 1976.

"Louis Feuillade," in Film Dope (London), September 1978.

Cartier, C., and M. Oms, "Quand Louis Feuillade cinématographiait à la cité de Carcassonne," in Cahiers de la Cinémathèque (Paris), Winter 1979.

"Fantômas Issue" of Avant-Scène du Cinéma (Paris), 1 July 1981.

You, D., "Fantômas et Judex au tribunal: Feuillade a-t-il cédé ses droits," in Filméchange (Paris), Winter 1983.

Lacassin, F., "Naissance d'un héros," in Avant-Scène du Cinéma (Paris), April 1984.

Pithon, R., "Retour à Feuillade," in Positif (Paris), February 1987.

Abel, R., "Before Fantômas: Louis Feuillade and the Development of Early French Cinema," in Post Script (Jacksonville, Florida), Fall 1987.

"Louis Feuillade," in Cahiers de la Cinémathèque (Paris), no. 48, 1987.

Oms, M., "Entretien avec Jacques Champreux," in Cahiers de laCinémathèque (Paris), no. 48, 1987.

La Breteque, F. de, and M. Cade, "La petite bourgeoisie dans les films de Louis Feuillade," in Cahiers de la Cinémathèque (Paris), no. 50, 1988.

Masson, A., "Voila le passage secret! Sur Judex et sur Feuillade," in Positif (Paris), no. 383, January 1993.

"Feuillade and the French Serial," in Velvet Light Trap (Austin, Texas), no. 37, Spring 1996.


* * *

Louis Feuillade was one of the most solid and dependable talents in French cinema during the early twentieth century. He succeeded Alice Guy as head of production at Gaumont in 1906 and worked virtually without a break—aside from a period of war service—until his death in 1925. He produced some eight hundred films of every conceivable kind: comedies and contemporary melodramas, biblical epics and historical dramas, sketches and series with numerous episodes adding up to many hours of running time. Alhough most of these films were made from his own scripts, Feuillade was not an innovator. The years of his apprenticeship in the craft of filmmaking were those in which French producers reigned supreme, and he worked uncomplainingly in a context in which commercial criteria were paramount. For Feuillade—as for so many of his successors in the heyday of Hollywood—aesthetic strategies not rooted in sound commercial practices were inconceivable, and a filmmaker's only viable ambition was to reach the widest possible audience.

Most of Feuillade's output forms part of a series of some kind and he clearly saw films in generic terms rather than as individually sculpted works. Though not an originator in terms of the forms or styles he adopted, he made films which are among the finest examples of the various popular genres he successively explored. Before 1914 his work is enormously diverse. It included thirty comic films in the series of La Vie drôle, a group of seriously intended dramas in which a concern with the quality of the pictorial image is apparent (marketed under the banner of the Film esthétique), and a number of contemporary dramas, La Vie telle qu'elle est, with somewhat ambiguous claims to realism. In addition, he made some seventy-six films with a four-year-old child star, Bébé, and another fifty or so with the urchin Bout-de-Zan.

But the richest vein of Feuillade's work is the series of crime melodramas that extended from Fantômas in 1913–14 to Barrabas in 1920. Starting with his celebration of Fantômas, master criminal and master of disguise, who triumphs effortlessly over the dogged ordinariness of his opponent Inspector Juve, Feuillade went on to make his wildest success with Les Vampires. Made to rival the imported American serials, this series reflects the chaotic wartime state of French production. It is marked by improvised stories refusing all logic, bewildering changes of casting (necessary as actors were summoned to the war effort), economical use of real locations, and dazzling moments of total incongruity.

Les Vampires reached a level that Feuillade was never able to duplicate. Subsequent works like Judex and especially La Nouvelle Mission de Judex are marked by a new tone of moralising, with the emphasis placed on the caped avenger rather than the feckless criminals. If the later serials, Tih Minh and Barrabas, contain sequences able to rank with the director's best, Feuillade's subsequent work in the 1920s lacks the earlier forcefulness.

It was the films' supreme lack of logic, the disregard for hallowed bourgeois values—so appropriate at a time when the old social order of Europe was crumbling under the impact of World War I—which led the surrealists such as André Breton and Louis Aragon to hail Fantômas and Les Vampires, and most of Feuillade's subsequent advocates have similarly celebrated the films' anarchistic poetry. But this should not lead us to see Feuillade as any sort of frustrated artist or poet of cinema, suffocating in a world dominated by business decisions. On the contrary, the director was an archetypal middle class family man who prided himself on the commercial success of his work and conducted his personal life in accord with strictly ordered bourgeois principles.

—Roy Armes

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